“... with the rapid extension of laboratory tests of greater accuracy, there is a tendency for some clinicians and hence for some students in reaching a diagnosis to rely more on laboratory reports and less on the history of the illness, the examination and behavior of the patient and clinical judgment. While in many cases laboratory findings are invaluable for reaching correct conclusions, the student should never be allowed to forget that it takes a man, not a machine, to understand a man.”

—Raymond B. Allen, MD, PhD, 19461

From Hippocrates onward, accurate diagnosis has always been the prerequisite for prognosis and treatment. Physicians typically diagnosed through astute interviewing, deductive reasoning, and skillful use of observation and touch. Then, in the past 250 years they added 2 more tools to their diagnostic skill set: percussion and auscultation, the dual foundation of bedside assessment. Intriguingly, both these skills were first envisioned by multifaceted minds: percussion by Leopold Auenbrugger, an Austrian music-lover who even wrote librettos for operas; and stethoscopy by René Laennec, a Breton flutist, poet, and dancer—not exactly the kind of doctors we tend to produce today.

Still, the point of this preamble is not to say that eclecticism may help creativity (it does), but to remind ourselves that it has only been for a century or so that physicians have been able to rely on laboratory and radiologic studies. In fact, the now ubiquitous and almost obligatory imaging tests (computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron-emission tomography, and ultrasonography) have been available to practitioners for only threescore years or less. Yet tests have become so dominant in our culture that it is hard to imagine a time when physicians could count only on their wit and senses.

CLINICAL SKILLS ARE STILL RELEVANT

Ironically, many studies tell us that history and bedside examination can still deliver most diagnoses.2,3 In fact, clinical skills can solve even the most perplexing dilemmas. In an automated analysis of the clinicopathologic conference cases presented in the New England Journal of Medicine,4 history and physical examination still yielded a correct diagnosis in 64% of those very challenging patients.

Bedside examination may be especially important in the hospital. In a study of inpatients,5 physical examination detected crucial findings in one-fourth of the cases and prompted management changes in many others. As the authors concluded, sick patients need careful examination, the more skilled the better.

Unfortunately, errors in physical examination are common. In a recent review of 208 cases, 63% of oversights were due to failure to perform an examination, while 25% were either missed or misinterpreted findings.6 These errors interfered with diagnosis in three-fourths of the cases, and with treatment in half.

Which brings us to the interesting observation by Kondo et al,7 who in this issue of the Journal report how the lowly physical examination proved more helpful than expensive magnetic resonance imaging in evaluating a perplexing case of refractory shoulder pain.

This is not an isolated instance. To get back to Laennec, whose stethoscope just turned 200, auscultation too can help the 21st-century physician. For example, posturally induced crackles, a recently discovered phenomenon, are the third-best predictor of outcome following myocardial infarction, immediately after the number of diseased vessels and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure.8

The time-honored art of observation can also yield new and important clues. From the earlobe crease of Dr. Frank, to the elfin face of Dr. Williams, there are lots of diseases out there waiting for our name—if only we could see them. As William Osler put it, “The whole art of medicine is in observation.”9